PROGRESS have a big main event for for the PROGRESS Championship as WALTER faces Mark Haskins a man who never lost the title and has been waiting two years to get his hands on the title again. Aussie Open make another tag title defence and a Dramatic Dream Team roster member makes his PROGRESS debut. All this and more from PROGRESS Chapter 78: 24 Hour Progress People.
Match 1: Isla Dawn vs Lana Austin
Dawn’s last match with Millie McKenzie went to a no contest thanks to interference from the House Of Couture (Jinny & Laura Di Matteo). She still awaits her first Chapter show victory and faces a tough task if she is to earn it. Lana Austin has been wrestling all over the UK capturing women’s championships in 7 different promotions.
Match 2: Eddie Dennis vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey
DDT regular Mike Bailey makes his PROGRESS debut having competed for almost every other major promotion in the UK such as Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling, Fight Club: PRO, and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro). The high flier faces a man who is almost certainly a future PROGRESS champion and someone who has spent the last year making sure he gets the respect he feels he deserves. After his year long feud with Mark Andrews and a brutal TLC match at Wembley he has more than earned the fans respect. With his “anytime, anywhere” title shot contract in hand Dennis will want to keep the momentum rolling and beat the talented newcomer.
Match 3: Chris Ridgeway vs Jordan Devlin
Hard As F*ck vs The Irish Ace in an interesting clash of styles. Ridgeway is a shooter who specializes in hard strikes and a good ground game. Devlin is no slouch in that department having come from the NWA Ireland school, which much like NWA: Hammerlock taught a technical style, but Devlin mixes in a bit of high flying to his game and specializes in matches where the pace is faster. Whoever wins will gain a big victory in their climb up the card as Devlin has been on fire in 2018 and Ridgeway has been successful in making the step to the biggest promotions on the scene.
Match 4: David Starr vs Ilja Dragunov
This isn’t the first time these two have shared a ring as both have been westside Xtreme wrestling regulars for years. This is though their first going one on one in 2 years and the first time since Dragunov became the talk of the European scene earlier this year. Probably best known as two of WALTER’s biggest rivals Dragunov and Starr are excellent wrestlers in their own right. Dragunov is coming off his match with Pete Dunne from Wembley where the two of Europe’s best went head to head and he will be looking to get his first singles win in PROGRESS against Starr. Starr was involved in the tag scene leading up to Wembley so makes a transition back into singles competition with this tough test.
Match 5: Progress Atlas Division Championship Open Challenge: Trent Seven (c) vs ???
Trent’s first open challenge was answered by Gino Gambino as the division goes back to the days of Rampage Brown’s open challenge. The Atlas division is not a defined division as the rules of being in and not being in aren’t extremely clear so this could be answered by anyone. Either way, this division deserves better.
Match 6: PROGRESS Tag Team Championships: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) vs CTK (Chris Brookes & Timothy Thatcher)
Aussie Open defended their titles for the first time at the last Chapter show, they defeated The 198 and the Grizzle Young Veterans to retain. They face another tough task as Brookes and Thatcher challenge. Brookes is waiting on the return of Kid Lykos but hasn’t let that set him back as he has tried to make the team with Thatcher work. Aussie Open will need to repel the attack of teams like this every time out if they want to cement themselves as the top tag team in the division.
Match 7: PROGRESS World Championship: WALTER (c) vs Mark Haskins
On the 30th of October 2016, Mark Haskins was forced to vacate the PROGRESS Championship due to his neck issues. Many were unsure if we would ever see him wrestle again. Just over two years later he has a chance to win the championship that he never lost. In that time Haskins has captured the main championships in five companies but never been able to reach the top of PROGRESS’ mountain. To reach the top of the figurative mountain he will need to beat a real mountain in WALTER. The dominant Austrian has been the UK’s most dominant performer in 2018 winning gold everywhere he’s been and defeating everyone that’s been put in front of him. Haskins has proven time and time again to be one of the UK’s best but does he have what it takes to unseat one of the World’s best?
